Aengus Cunningham rounds-up the latest action from the Roscommon Handball scene including the 40×20 Junior Singles Championships.
40×20 Junior A Singles Semi-Final
The 2017 Roscommon Junior Singles Final will be an all-Lisacul affair after Sean Jennings came through a titanic struggle with St. Coman’s Oisin Naughton in Ballaghaderreen last Saturday.
Initially it took Oisin a long time to adjust to the cold conditions and Sean took full advantage, holding the middle of the court and using the corners to kill at regular intervals and taking a comfortable 21-14 first game.
It looked like an action replay in the second as Sean cruised to a 20-14 lead, but Oisin showed great character when a switch to a lob serve bore instant results and helped him to an improbable 21-20 second game.
At this stage it looked like advantage to Oisin, but instead the third turned into a battle of attrition where there was never more than 2 or 3 points in it. Finally, after over 2 hours, Sean sealed the win with a nerve-wracking 21-20 third game. He now goes on to play his doubles partner Denis Creaton who unfortunately received a walkover from an ill Philip O’Connor.
40×20 Junior ‘B’ Singles Semi-Final
Favourite for the County Junior ‘B’ singles title, Lisacul’s Gordon Nolan, had a real scare in St Coman’s on Friday last when he had to fight hard to take a three game win over a very determined Donal O’Connor from Curraghboy.
Showing nice touches, Donal got going straight away and took the first 21-14. Gordon upped the ante in the second and won 21-8, but had to battle very hard in the third before finally winning 21-16.
Gael Linn Competition
The St. Coman’s U13 boy/girl combination of Rory Carthy and Cara Kennedy had a very impressive outing in the Connacht Gael Linn competition. This pits boy v boy, girl v girl and doubles v doubles in timed games and the side with the highest aggregate score wins. In recent years two representatives go through from the provinces, so two groups of three played a round-robin and the winners of each went through. Rory and Cara both racked up huge totals in their singles and doubles to be out of sight long before the finish and will now compete in the All-Ireland version in Ulster in two weekends time.
Fiona honoured at Connacht GAA Awards
Considering the fantastic year she has had it came as no surprise that the award-laden Fiona Tully was named as the Connacht Young Female Handballer of the year for 2016 at the Connacht GAA Awards Ceremony, which was held in their Centre of Excellence, Ballyhaunis last Friday night.